Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-01

hcc7i- y very pfOutanic venture, ana oda
hafdly answered the purpose OF ms IN.
ing large stable chcaply, many OF -
having since sold their horses and pocketrd
their experience at Gust of several thou
sands. Some idea Of the price paid per
day by London cabmen to the pFoprietofs
for their vehicles may be had from the fol-
lowing:
From poneaster week TO November LIST,
las. Cd. per day. 1890. s. Is
From November md TO March 18th, l5s. Cd.
From March 18th to $ist ID: Cd per day
From April LIST 10 18th, LIS. Cd. per day ... 10
From April 18th until Saturday before the
Derby, lSs- Cd per day ......... 81
From the Monday in Derby week till Eaton
aud Harrow, lS Gd. per day 60
This is the maximum. After then the
rate is reduced to l3s. and 12s. per day
S3l2 to 1885,. If we may believe the
proprietOrs, the rates paid 90 below 12s.
per day, sometimes reaching 81 so and
even 81 per day. The above figures are
from the books of cab company. though
the cab proprietor would deny their accu-
racy and declare the men never paid the
amounts given. 1t is next to impossible
to estimate the earnings of q London cab
man. He is interested in creating the
idea that he pays an enormous price for
the cab, and makes next TO nothing, while
the proprietor is interested in Spreading
the idea that his receipts are about los. or
125., TO keep Others from going into the
business.
A FISHER OF MEN.
The cabman is indeed fisher of men.
He starts out in the morning about eight
or nine o'clock aud generally returns to the
stable by ten o'clock at night. What the
harvest has been no one knows but cabby
himself, and it is not often that he will
tell. Sometimes, TO be sure, an uncom-
monty large fish is booked, perhaps in the
shape of our American millionaires with
their 'half-crown tips" but too
often it requires net with fine
meshes to retain the behring's
the tittlebats and the minnows floating
about the sea of London. have talked
with at least twenty cabmen during the
past week, and some of them assured me
they had not earned twelve shillings q
week, after they had paid for their cab
and the yard dues. This is less than
three dollars. On three months his hopes
of gain depend-May, June and July
Then" said one, Il 'ope to make thirty
or forty bob $3.50 to $40 a week. !"
This is the cabman's harvest For this he
spends days and nights of misery and
wretchedness, in the cold, the fog, the
sleet, the rain and the snow. For
this he foregoes the bright freside,
the companionship of his wife and
the merry laugh of the children-an en-
jOyment that the thrifty mechanic and ar
tisan can claim. No wonder the senti-
ment is soaked out of him, and his spirits
chilled. No wonder that he becomes
something of misanthrope, No wonder
that the joys and sorrows of lie disturbe
him not.
"A LITTLE H'ARBITRARY."
1--WE become little h'arbitrary some
times" said cab man of thirty years,
''and perhaps some of us do charge bit
more than legal rates, tho don't myself.
But then the masters is h'arbitrary and de,
mands their money, and what Is poor
fellow to dO?"
| confessed it was hard to advise on such
a delicate point. The reputation cahmer
have for charging strangers exorbitant
fares is strangely ut variance with the
record of honesty we find at Scotland
Yard. am indebted to the Police Com
missiOners for the most recent statistics in
relation to property left in cabs. Out O.
thirty Thousand articles left last year il
hackney carriages, 20,Sl3 were deposited
by the drivers at Scotland Yard. This is
good percentage when we take into cOnsid
Grafton that some of the articles may hav,
been appropriated by subsequent pasSen
gers, without the knowledge OF the drivers
All the restored articles did not consist o
newspapers, umbrellas and parliamentary
blue books Here is partial list: